State Councilor and Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang urged Monday to create a stable social environment for the country's economic growth.

Zhou, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made the remark during his visit to east China's Shandong Province.

He urged police and judicial administrations of all levels to keep cracking down upon crimes and building a social monitoring and prevention network to protect the public from crimes and dangers so as to create a stable and favorable environment for rapid economic development.

Police and judicial administrations should improve their services for citizens and help solve their problems and mediate their conflicts, Zhou said.

The country will continue to improve people's understanding about laws and urge them to abide by the laws and use laws to solve their problems, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2003)